For many years the dairy farmer wish list has been dominated by the desire for more heifer calves sired by top bulls out of their best cows.
For the first time, the two extraordinary technologies that make this possible, have been combined in Hamilton this week, just as the spring mating season reaches its peak.
The New Zealand dairy industry now has the ability to analyse a DNA sample from a young bull and predict how its daughters will milk, what they will look like, and how they will behave in the shed.
In parallel with this development, in the USA, scientists found a way to identify and separate individual sperm cells that carry the X chromosome responsible for delivering heifer calves.
On Wednesday 11 November these revolutionary technologies collided to produce straws of sexed semen from the best bulls in the world for seasonal pasture-based dairying.
New Zealand farmer-owned genetics company Livestock Improvement (LIC) has been working with Texas-based Sexing Technologies for several years, and the partnership has now presented farmers with a unique opportunity.
LIC’s Genetics General Manager Peter Gatley says there are several ways in which the industry will benefit from this collaboration. “Genetics is the biggest contributor to on-farm productivity gain, so anything which speeds this up is a big deal.
“Farmers can lift the Breeding Worth of their replacements by getting more heifers out of their top cows, breeders can preserve valuable cow families by creating more females, and birth dates of heifer calves can be concentrated to simplify the calf raising process. As usual with new technology, farmers will find ways of applying it that we hadn’t even thought of.”
Farmers are now able to obtain sexed semen from LIC’s elite team of AB bulls.
DNA Proven Sexed Semen is available from a range of 6 selected bulls at an additional $60 premium per straw.
For more information contact your local District Manager.
